


Empty Rooms

by atsuyuri_sama



Series: Completed, Stand-Alone Tumblr Fics [11]
Category: Cyborg 009
Genre: Asexual Relationship, Asexuality, M/M, Mention of abuse, Unbeta'd, mention of depression, mention of unwilling body alteration
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-30
Updated: 2014-10-30
Packaged: 2018-02-23 06:07:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,911
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2536982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/atsuyuri_sama/pseuds/atsuyuri_sama
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Daisuke Kozumi once knew a man named Isaac Gilmore. Old friends can be helpful.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Empty Rooms

**Author's Note:**

> Based on a tumblr post, post, and dedicated to its responders – carmineeyes, axl-fox, and chiauve.

His name was Kozumi Daisuke.

Born and raised in Japan, he had known he wanted to be a doctor since he was small… What kind of doctor was an ever-changing answer, but the fact that he wanted to help others was forever at the core of it all. Eventually, he settled on biology. It was a windfall of luck when he got accepted into Harvard of all places.

There, he was the foreigner, and his roommate was a young Russian Jew named Isaac Gilmore. Daisuke was forever forgetting that people introduced themselves given-name first, but Gilmore-san was one of the more forgiving Westerners; he didn’t mind in the least that Daisuke preferred to be called by his surname, or that he did the same to others. Eventually, Gilmore-san learned what it meant, to honor someone with friendship by offering the use of their first name (knowingly), and he became Isaac-san, and Daisuke’s first true friend in this strange country.

Time went by – years – as both young men learned more and more, getting closer to their goals. Daisuke became a biologist, and Isaac-san a biological cybernetics specialist. The two grew ever-closer, doing everything save classes together… and with specialties so close together, even that, on occasion. In a quiet room, behind a locked door, they shared a handful of kisses. In a homey dorm apartment, over many weeks and months, they lived a relationship that – deep and romance-filled as it was – would never lead to sex. (The cuddling and emotional closeness was enough.)

Towards the end of their graduate year, Daisuke was saddened to note a distance had grown between the two of them; Isaac had found his success with a rather shady group (in Daisuke’s opinion, anyway, because they used shady means), and was become more goal-oriented, and less patient-oriented. Their relationship slowly faded into memory, as graduation and a life outside of university drew closer.

There was little that Daisuke could do for his partner and friend, save letting him go his own way. So he did.

The next time Daisuke heard from Isaac was decades removed from their time together. Daisuke himself was a renowned and far-acknowledged biologist; as far as Daisuke knew, Isaac had dropped completely off the map. Both (Daisuke imagined, unable to actually _see_ Isaac) were old enough for lines from living to be carved deep into their faces, for joints to begin aching, and for hair to have faded from healthy black and brown to salt-and-pepper and grey-streaked. The heavy sorrow and heart-rending guilt in Isaac’s voice was almost more than Daisuke could fathom, and worrisome.

(The badly-disguised terror was definitely more than he’d ever been expecting, and horrifying all on its own.)

Daisuke sat patiently and listened to his old partner spread out the truth for Daisuke to see at last. Daisuke and Isaac had been so close, back then – and all of Isaac’s family had long-since passed, besides – that Daisuke was the only one Isaac felt he could turn to. He had fallen in with an organization whose name he dared not speak over a phone line, least it draw attention. He explained how he’d had to travel far out of his realm of comfort and routine, just to find a phone that wouldn’t be bugged… Just so he could know that he might safely spill the world’s greatest (most deadly) secret to someone not in the know.

With broken tones and choked voice, he offered up what small details he could: of the people he’d operated on… of the humans he’d changed. He begged Daisuke to understand that he’d thought they’d all be willing (and of course Daisuke understood; misguided Isaac might have been, but never malicious)! He breathed of the moment, after working on one he called 005, how his curiosity had gotten the better of him, and how he’d gone looking into the records of the first four, who’d been sealed for decades, so as to catch up with the science of the times. Isaac began to truly cry when he told Daisuke of the moment he _realized,_ based on the notes, that none of them had been willing.

He could not ignore the signs of abuse – of depression, of a body pushed too far, or of a spirit broken – in 002’s records… initially dubbed D6, not even the first of the batch, only the first to _survive._ From there, it became increasingly clear that his employer was causing him and his fellow scientists to _experiment on unwilling subjects!_

Daisuke let Isaac sob, doing his best to be there for the man who had once been his closest friend. When – at long last – the tears dried up, Isaac begged him: Daisuke, what do I do? They’ll _kill me_ if they learn I’ve spoken to you about it, let _alone_ if they learn I want to _stop!_

Daisuke did not have an answer.

Isaac had to hang up, for fear of discovery after so long on the phone. It would be another handful of years before he got the opportunity to call again.

**-ER-**

This time, the call was frantic, but orderly; Isaac had used his time wisely, and planned.

What Isaac needed was resources, and a place to lay low. This Daisuke was willing to provide. For (hopefully) ten people would be a bit of a stretch, but he could manage; it was lonely in his large, empty family home.

The danger Isaac warned him would ( _would_ , not _might_ ) follow, should he go through with this, did not faze Daisuke. What would happen would happen, and Daisuke stilled lived with the full-hearted desire to help those who were hurting. These people might have been in unique circumstances, but they were by-far the most hurt and needy people Daisuke had ever had the opportunity to learn of. If he could be of service – _any_ way he could be of service – he would do so.

Isaac could not even stay on long enough to do more than tell Daisuke how many to expect, and to thank him breathlessly, rushed. It was only after the other man had hung up that Daisuke realized he had no _time frame._ He sighed, and made plans to do his best to keep his home as well-stocked for an influx of nearly a dozen people as he could, without causing food to go bad or rooms to go dusty and stale.

Then it became a waiting game. Daisuke had become very good at waiting games, over the years.

(Waiting on a best friend and perfect, understanding partner there was no guarantee he would ever hear from again was the ultimate waiting game.)

**-ER-**

They came in the night, the sun just dawning as they landed the unsightly craft they’d commandeered. They were a motley group, indeed, and it was then that Daisuke truly understood how _much_ they would need him – if only as a safe space to retreat to, when the need arose.

Daisuke was shocked (and a bit horrified) to see that one of the ten in question was an infant. But the depth of weariness he spied in Isaac’s lined face was more than enough to cause him to hide this reaction. He would not be yet one more weight on Isaac, not right now. Now was a time for resting and recovering. He took charge and declared just that, using his position as host to prod them into doing his will.

It was sadly easy; the red-clad group was worn to the bone, and not yet exactly comfortable with all their members, besides. Without making a fuss, he ushered Isaac into his own room – it was the only one he was sure was absolutely fit for use, considering he hadn’t done any extensive housekeeping in three weeks. The other man was asleep almost before his head hit the pillow.

Concerned still for his newest house-guests, Daisuke made the rounds on silent feet, ducking his head into rooms and taking note of every person. It was telling, to see who had grouped up. The only woman had curled up on the floor of one of the larger rooms, in the middle of a nest of futons; wrapped in her arms was the baby, and wrapped around her was the lanky red-head. Eyes glinting coolly in the morning light as he sat against the wall, obviously keeping guard, the silver-haired man nodded shortly at Daisuke before continuing to stare out at the water.

In another room, a young brunet lay sprawled easily across his futon, alone and carefree. It was a relief to see relaxation in the young man’s body language; at least this one wasn’t as dragged down by the circumstances as the other three had looked. There was hope for the others yet, then.

Across the way, a man made purely of muscle sat soundlessly, eyes closed and arms and legs crossed. As Daisuke peeked his head in, the man stirred, blinked alertly at Daisuke, grunted softly in greeting, and once more closed his eyes. Nearby, on another, smaller nest of futons, a stocky bald man slept, straight as an arrow, next to a small, round man. Both looked troubled, even in sleep, though Daisuke suspected that, were the giant of a man not in the room, they would look worse.

Completing the count, Daisuke found the final man – tense, and dark-skinned – curled in a tight knot in his own room. He slept with quiet snores of noise, but Daisuke spied one hand tucked beneath his pillow, and had no doubt that a weapon was stored there. This one’s face was nearly as haggard as Isaac’s, as though his whole young life had been full of strife, and Isaac wondered just how far he’d come.

Slipping out onto the engawa at last, Daisuke took care to slide the screen as silently along its track as he could. The morning light was golden across the water, and warm; he closed his eyes and breathed it in. It smelled like new beginnings, and hope, and he prayed that this was a sign of things to come for this worn out group. They would need it.

Daisuke could not bring himself to mind their strange habits; there would be people in his home, however they decided to divide themselves. And, perhaps, given their circumstances, should they leave and then return, he would find them all piled as one cohesive group on the living room floor next time. It might be good for them, to realize they had others they could rely on, every single day. And even if they returned, and it became clear that they had become comfortable as ten separate individuals who made up a team, he would still have enough space to hold them all.

Daisuke was good at waiting. He was good at helping people heal. And he was good at being there for those he cared about. He still loved Isaac; if Isaac had already poured his heart into these people (and he had), he would soon be adding his soul. It would not be such a hardship to care also for the family that Isaac had made for himself, Daisuke knew. Now that a connection had been rekindled, Isaac was the kind of man who would not give up a relationship (that he had nearly lost, especially on his own error) without a fight.

So perhaps they would become Daisuke’s family, too. It would be nice to not be alone again.


End file.
